Newspapers / The News-Record (Marshall, N.C.) / June 11, 1987, edition 1 / Page 12
Part of The News-Record (Marshall, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
' DOT North 9 May Do Highway Work At Hot Springs transportation af firm has hired so er Department of i employees that it is in government circles as "DOT North." The state Board of Transportation will be asked Friday to award a 9220,380 road design contract to the firm, Frank Coleman and Associates. Coleman, the principal owner, was the Divison of Highways' chief engineer until his retirement last year. "I retired Apri I 30, 1966, and started the company May 1, 1906," Coleman said. He said he had hired 10 to 19 former DOT employees, in cluding Ave who came straight to Col eman & Associates without working elsewhere. The firm has about 30 full time employees. The Divsion of Highways will ask the Board of Transportation to award Coleman's firm the design work for a 6.5-mile stretch of U.S.25-70, from Hot Springs to the Tennessee line. That would be the firm's first North Carolina highway contract. "The majority of our work is out of state," Coleman said. "We've got work in Virginia, Georgia and jpnnB>^ i Alabama. The Department of Transportation contract amounts to less than 10 percent, ?f the vork that we've got to do within the next 12 months." Coleman said all but one of the DOT employees who have come to work for his company approached him first. The exception - Robert M Walker, a former project engineer in the Roadway Design Unit - helped Coleman * Associates win the U.S. 25-70 job. "Bob Walker is the only one I went after before he announced his retire |ment," Coleman said. Walker retired March I. George E Weils, ?Ute highway ad ministrator, said Walker was "one of our best" employees at DOT Wells said a new company - with personnel unfamiliar to DOT officials - is at a disadvantage when it tries to get a state highway contract. "But in this instance, he (Coleman) had people tha tthe guys knew - in particular his project engineer, Bob Walker. Bob was a good mountainous-terrain design engineet. I'm sure this had something to do with him (Coleman) getting this particular project." J would come in and hire our people away to do work for us." Wells said Walker's departure "didn't surprise us that much because Bob already had hit 30 years. We consider us fortunate to retain any of our engineers once they got to retirement age and get time in, because there's so many oppor tunities outside right now." W ?' { ~ $ Design contracts are not awarded by low bids The winning company is selected by a committee headed by W.G. Marley, the Highway Design branch manager, from a list of com panies that wpresB interest in a par ticular job. The price then is negotiated. Wells said 21 firms expressed in terest in the U.S. 25-70 job. From the 'Under the Dome' column ?f Tlie News and Observer. Cary Woman Drowns When Raft Overturns On River ?Continued from Page I Carolina Wilderness Adventures of Hot Springs. Her drowning is ap parently the first commercial white water death in North Carolina, raf ting experts said. Michael Tousey, a co-owner of Carolina Wilderness Adventures, said the section of the river where the accident occurred, often called "En trance Rapid," is a Class III, or in termediate level, rapid. Big Bad Wolf Remembers -Continued from Page 1 In Haywood County he worked under Jule Welch and his son, Bob Welch. Then in Cocke County, he worked under Mack Harper, Charles Runnion, Charles Fisher, Dr. Smith and Ken Holt. Foster was so effective in stopping rum-runners that a judge presented him with a consficated car during a session of court in Madison County. Court met quarterly, and during one quarter Foster had caught 10 cars, though he had no car of his own. After the judge presented him with a car, Foster was able to catch even more rum-runners, he recalls. Going after blockaders was dangerous, he says. Sometimes you had to go off in the woods after them. People told Foster he'd get killed or burn out on the job, but he never did. Some blockaders used big copper stills and some used stills made of two gasoline cans fastened together. In 1931, Foster was put on trial for killing a man during another run-in with the man he shot in Hot Springs in 1917 - Foster remembers that vivid ly. Foster was out on the mountain at night with a search warrant for a man's car, and his prey found out he was there. The man came with two boys and two more men, including one from Ohio, Foster recalls, and tried to kill him. In the fight which resulted, Foster killed one of his assailants, shot two more and the others ran away, he says. All this happened right on the Madison Haywood county line. The man he killed was from a pro minant family in Waynesville and they wanted the trial to be there. Foster wanted it in Madison. The judge moved the trial to Yancey. There were 13 lawyers, he recalls seven for prosecution and six for the defense. The trial took seven straight days and Foster was on the stand three hours and 35 minutes. The jury declared him not guilty, and turned him loose to "sheriffing" again. Eventually, the rum-running "in dustry" petered out. Foster thinks it was not so much what he did, or even that times got better, but that the traffic simply got so thick that rum running was no longer practical. Foster was not one to stay in a rut. In addition to "sheriffing," he was a policeman in Hot Springs for a while, and a land appraiser for the govern ment. He appraised land for the Rocky Bluff camping and picnic area: appraised price $2.65 an acre. In 1940, he became commissary and "sheriff" of the Grace Lumber Company of Cold Springs in Haywood County, guarding the payroll. He also worked for a year as a security guard for the atomic bomb plant in Oak Ridge, Tenn. Foster, who grew up in the Meadow Fork section of Madison County, came back to the county permanantly in 1948 and raised cattle and ran a store in Sleepy Valley. He is now retired. Pool To Open Next Week -Continued from Page 1 now be the responsibility of town of ficials. Alderman Ed Niles, who seconded the motion, said that the town's new insurance policy required that anything that insured by the policy must come under direct town jurisdiction. The board also unanimously agreed to hire Polly Caldwell to run the pool during the summer. "Hopefully, we can have it open by the first of next week, if we can get it cleaned up and fixed up by then," said Marshall Mayor Anita Ward. The pool will be open from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. Tuesday through Satur day and 1-6 p.m. Sunday. The pool will stay open until 8 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The cost of admission this summer will be 75 cents for children aged 4 to 12 and $1.25 for ages 13 and older. Children under 3 get in free. Season passes will be sold. The town is also trying to obtain new fiberglass lifeguard stands, and will hire lifeguards for the pool. Ramsey Misses 1st Session Liston B. Ramsey missed his first session of the N.C. House of Representatives since becoming House Speaker five years ago. Ramsey broke his string of perfect attendance, dating back to at least 1969, last Thursday when he flew to Ashe vi lie for the funeral of his brother-in-law, William Weaver Prit chard. Not only was it the first time that Ramsey, a Democrat from Madison County, was not on hand to preside over the House, it was also the first time he had missed a House session since 1969, said Dot Barber, Ramsey's administrative secretary. Pilling in for Ramsey was Speaker Pro Tem. J. Jack Hunt, a Cleveland County Democrat. State To Probe Chandler Case -Continued from Page 1 Supporters sent copies of the peti tions, along with a summary of their concerns, to Gov. James Martin's of fice last Monday, said Gunter, a friend of Chandler and a cousin of Chandler's wife The supporters had also met last with the Madison County of Commissioners to voice their concerns. But, after being toid by the commissioners that county government has no direct control M ?? over DSS operations, the group set up the meeting with the Social Services board. Board members agreed after a nearly 90-minute meeting with the group from Revere to ask state of ficials to step in and evaluate the department's handling of two cases, said Anita Davie, DSS director. One of those cases is the Chandler sexual abuse case. Davie would not say what other case is involved. "We're just concerned about the way that things have been handled in the past year or two," Gunter said. Chandler's friends are pleased with the Social Services board's decision and will now simply "play a waiting game," he said. "We want to hear what the in vestigation turns up," Gunter said. "We've got everything done that we can do right now. We've got our peti tions in to the governor. It's justs matter of wait-and-see." Chamber Of Commerce Forms -ii' ^ i Page I | "The whole Idea is to promote the county," Phillips said. "The fact that we have a chamber of commerce ?hows people that we can get together I that we're working for a common ^ul." The group agreed that there should * K rpromot.onal display ! the county businesses,'' Hoffman said. "We don't need businesses that will fall apart in a couple of years." Former Madison County resident Gil Ramsey compared the potential of the mountains to Disney World. When tbey bought that land in Florida, no one imagined what >t would bcromc. Kams.-v said 'YOU folks in Madison Countv are on the right track." Mot Springs Chamber of Commerce member Selma Nix Norton _ the group to be careful about politics interfere with the chamber. "Anyone using the V personal goals or political asked to leave," said Members of the infant say they are prepared for but feel the work will Jury Indicts On Mm c-'W7* ? ry has C. Thontn of Marshall se the nf h try. after r?r4*winj trw "Boats have had problems with that rapid before, but we've never had a problem with a person in that area," Tousey said. The accident occurred a third of a mile upriver from Sandy Bottom at the fourth rapid down in the approx imately eight-mile trip, he said. Long was a passenger in a "self guided" raft traveling in a group of four rafts, with a guide in the lead boat and a guide in the last boat, Tousey said. Most outfitters on the French Broad run self-guided trips, he said. "We cannot find anything that was done improperly or contrary to the way we normally run the rapid," Tousey said. Tousey echoed Fox's comments on the cooperation between emergency teams and rafting experts. "This cooperation bodes well for river related efforts in the future," he said. Richard West, in charge of Carolina Wilderness Adventures per sonnel involved in the rescue, agreed. "We hated to have to have used our river rescue skills, but we found out they work," said West. "It was a tremendous effort on everyone's part." Members of the Carolina Wilderness Adventures staff - as well as other outfitters that run the French Broad River ~ are still in shock over Saturday's fatal accident. "I'm not sure yet what caused it or why it happened," Tousey said. "I really need more time to think about it and study the situation." The feeling among raft guides is "somber," he said. "This whole thing has been a sober ing experience. The whole staff is somewhat subdued," he said. Commercial trips were back out on the French Broad on Tuesday, he said. "Given the record of white water rafting, I still think it's a safer thing to do than drive the roads," Tousey said. The leading cause of rafting ac cidents is the use of alcohol on a trip and the lack of life jackets, he said. Tousey and the owners of other raf ting companies said they expected the drowning would have a slight im pact on their businesses for the next few weeks, but said the effect should be short-term. "The guides have always been careful, but now they're even more cautious about everything,' West said. "It was truly tragic that this happened, but we all learned a lot about our abilities." Athens Restaurant
The News-Record (Marshall, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
June 11, 1987, edition 1
12
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75